Rich Clementi was bound and determined to not let Marcin Held and his leg lock obsession keep him from moving on.

But Held had other plans. The Polish lightweight spent most of the first round looking for any kind of a leg lock he could get, and in the second finally got it. Clementi tapped, and the 20-year-old Held moved on in Bellator’s Season 7 lightweight tournament.

The fight closed out Bellator 81 at Ryan Center at The University of Rhode Island in Kingston. The MTV2-televised main card followed prelims on Spike.com.

At the start, Clementi locked up Held after a few exchanges on the feet. But on the ground, Held looked for his bread and butter right away – leg locks and toe holds. Clementi did a good job of defending initially. But Held tried to crank on a toe hold, as well. Clementi’s veteran prowess had him doing anything to defend, including pushing Held’s head away with his foot – a legal move.

The two continued to work throughout the first, each going after leg locks, leaving them both in awkward spots on the ground. Clementi finally was able to switch position, but Held took advantage and cranked on a kneebar. But he didn’t have good enough position and Clementi survived – and even had a short-lived guillotine attempt toward the end of a close frame.

The two started slugging it out early in the second, but when Held got in close, Clementi landed a short throw takedown and tried to work out of half guard. He landed shots to Held’s ribs as he tried to pass to full mount.

On the ground, though, Held kept working for a finish. He finally grabbed Clementi’s left ankle, rolled and started to crank. Clementi, who said he trained in leg locks for two years in Japan, finally was forced to tap to the hold – the first time he’s ever tapped to a leg lock or toe hold.

“It’s very nice and a very good feeling,” Held said. “He’s a tough opponent. I got that hold in the first round, but he escaped. This is the best feeling in the world.”

Held (12-2 MMA, 4-1 BFC) moved on to the finals, which take place at Bellator 84 in December. Clementi (45-22-1 MMA, 2-2 BFC) saw his hopes for a shot at Bellator gold come up short.

In the night’s first lightweight tournament semifinal fight, Dave Jansen and Ricardo Tirloni slugged it out in a close fight that saw Jansen, the American, move into the finals.

A big shot from Jansen put Tirloni right to the canvas inside the first 25 seconds, but Tirloni was right back up and started to fire back and forth with the American. Jansen was the fighter moving forward most often through the first half of the frame as Tirloni looked to pick his moments with a mouse under his left eye.

When Tirloni did get inside, he often landed with authority – but Jansen took them all and kept coming forward. With 40 seconds left, Jansen ducked expertly under a Tirloni right hand and lifted Tirloni up for a suplex that likely gave him the round.

But Tirloni came on in the second and third rounds, which were much closer. In the second, Jansen again looked for a takedown and couldn’t finish it, but Tirloni ate some punches on his way back up against the cage. Tirloni seemed to swing bigger and bigger as the fight went on, and when he missed, he often paid the price with Jansen counters.

Tirloni may have sensed the closeness of the fight in the third and looked for a late takedown. He couldn’t finish it, and Jansen perhaps knew one of his own could give him the edge. He landed a late takedown, though it wasn’t as big as his first-round suplex. Still, it may have swayed a judge in his favor.

The scores of 29-28 twice for Jansen left Tirloni looking dejected and stunned in the cage – and Jansen breathing a sigh of relief as he moved into the finals.

“I’m feeling great,” Jansen said. “I kind of pictured the fight like that. I was going to use my wrestling as a backup. Tirloni’s got heavy hands and he cracked me a few good ones. But I think I was able to make him miss and make him pay when he did hit me, so it worked out.”

Jansen (19-2 MMA, 5-0 BFC) moved to an impressive 5-0 in his Bellator career. And Tirloni (15-3 MMA, 2-2 BFC) will have to wait for his shot at a Bellator belt.

Marlon Sandro puts Dustin Neace to sleep in first round

Marlon Sandro made things look relatively academic against Dustin Neace – though he may have gotten the tiniest bit of help along the way.

As Neace looked for a takedown against the two-time featherweight tournament finalist and brought the fight to the ground, Sandro grabbed the fence just long enough to have his hand slapped away from it by the referee. But that moment may have been enough to give him leverage to roll Neace over.

And once that had happened, Sandro was able to get a dominant position on the ground, rolled over for a rear-naked choke and locked it in. Neace never had a chance to tap, going out before he could.

“My losses were very hard for me,” Sandro said. “I trained very hard every day, but I wanted to come back and bring a good fight for the fans.”

Sandro (23-4 MMA, 6-2 BFC) is back in the win column after his loss in the Season 6 featherweight tournament finals to Daniel Straus. Neace (23-19 MMA, 0-1 BFC) dropped his third straight.

Perry Filkins outslugs Jonas Billstein

In a fun slugfest to open the MTV2 main-card broadcast, Bellator newcomer Perry Filkins, a Michigan native, fought a close battle with Germany’s Jonas Billstein – and then turned on the heat late to get the unanimous decision nod.

After a pair of close, back-and-forth rounds on the feet, Filkins flipped a switch with about three minutes left in the fight. After eating a punch from Billstein, Filkins began whooping and hooting and hollering, earning the approval of the crowd. He even began having what amounted to a conversation with his opponent, telling him to keep bringing the heat as he started winging away, himself.

Billstein tried to oblige and smiled back. But when he drove and looked for a takedown, it was Filkins who wound up on top. Billstein looked for a kimura on the ground, but lost it, and Filkins took advantage and landed some combos as they moved back to the feet.

Billstein looked tired as the fight waned, and when he went for another takedown, Filkins had no real issues, wound up on top in full mount and landed big punches and elbows to finish on his way to a pair of 29-28s and a 30-27 from the judges.

Filkins (7-1 MMA, 1-0 BFC) picked up a win in his Bellator debut and may have done enough to find his way into a future middleweight tournament. Billstein (10-3 MMA, 1-2 BFC) lost for the third time in four fights.

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.